It’s encouraging and ironic that the percentage of voters who turned out for the election in Iraq is estimated to be about the same as that for last fall’s U.S. election. While the violence and death accompanying Iraq’s election are lamentable, we can rejoice that the amount was much lower than had been anticipated. This suggests to me that the insurgents’ goal was to prevent the election in Iraq from happening, at least at this time. Only the most testosterone-impaired diehards (too much juice) were willing to die hard for their lost cause. I’ll wager they won’t be hiring lawyers and squealing “election fraud!” or accusing each other of hijacking votes or tampering with the ballot boxes.

I realize we receive a somewhat distorted picture of what’s happening in Iraq if we only rely on broadcast media reports. The news that fewer Sunni (the minority) bothered/tried/risked voting saddens me. I often support lost causes; however, to vote I only stroll across a placid residential street to my development’s clubhouse where children play alone outside and other creaky seniors fumble with voter lists. I sign my name without showing any identification, and I’m rewarded with a sticker and a lollipop after coping with the latest voting mechanism. No purple fingertip. No fear of the clubhouse receiving a mortar. No armed guards needed, except at homeowners’ association meetiings.

Why bother voting when you know you’re in the minority? I do it because the one fear that I do have is that if I don’t vote, some day I might not have the opportunity. If I’d had a purple fingertip last fall, or voted in Iraq yesterday, l would touch it to my forehead for the world to see.

Send comments to Georganna Hancock at Writer’s Edge.